But something deeper has been consuming Mr. Trump. He sees the calls for Mr. Moore to step aside as a version of the response to the now-famous “Access Hollywood” tape, in which he boasted about grabbing women’s genitalia, and the flood of groping accusations against him that followed soon after. He suggested to a senator earlier this year that it was not authentic, and repeated that claim to an adviser more recently. (In the hours after it was revealed in October 2016, Mr. Trump acknowledged that the voice was his, and he apologized.)

So what gives, Mr. President? Why publicly admit to the tape a year ago, yet now change your tune and tell advisers that you no longer believe it’s really you on the tape? Better yet, why leak that to the media now after months of silence? What’s your angle?

Perhaps the answer to all of those questions is that you are consumed by your own paranoia over Putin and the Russian sanctions or the ripple effects of Michael Flynn, and fear that a different highly damaging tape that is about to surface.

Does any other highly damaging tape come to mind, anyone??

Yes, that one…the Russian dossier pee pee tape. It could be that one, or some other tape that has yet to be made public. The only logical reason he’s trying to dispute the Access Hollywood authenticity and control its narrative now is to divert from and/or preemptively discredit what is about to surface